Squeeze driers



March 11, 1958 F. R. SIBBALD Y 2,826,059

SQUEEZE DRIERS Filed July 16, 1954 Unite States Patent "assume .SQUEEZE DRIERS Frederick Roy Sibbald, Perivale, Greenford, England, assignor to Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 16, 1954, Serial No. 443,941

3 Claims. (Cl. 68-242) This invention relates to squeeze driers for the drying of clothes after they have been washed. According to the present invention a suction drier for clothes includes a container affording a chamber for Wet clothes having a movable Wall and a pump situated below the container for applying suction to the interior of the container to move the wall to contract the chamber and squeeze the clothes, a main suction pipe communicating with the upper part of the chamber, and means for supplying liquid to the pump from the lower part of the chamber before the pressure in the chamber is reduced. Conveniently the priming means comprise an auxiliary suctiori-pipe connected between the suction side of the pump and the lower part of the chamber and preferably the cross-section of the main suction pipe is substantially greater than that of the auxiliary suction pipe.

The invention is particularly advantageous when applied to a squeeze drier in which the chamber is in the form of a flexible bag charged with clothes through the top. The auxiliary suction pipe may be connected to the suction side of the pump at such a position that liquid flowing from the pipe will flow on to the inlet to the working space or spaces of the pump.

Conveniently the pump is of the type comprising a rotor in the form of a single start screwthread rotating and moving orbitally in a stator having a bore in the form of a double start screwthread, the level of the inlet of the auxiliary suction pipe being above and directed towards the inlet to the working space between the rotor and stator.

The pump is designed for the primary duty of sucking water and vapour from the wet clothes. In such a case, it the container is not initially full of clothes, it will be necessary, in the absence of the invention, for the pump first to withdraw a substantial volume of air before it begins to take in water. In many cases the pump will rely on water or water vapour to lubricate it and provide an effective seal, and if it works dry it may be subject to undue wear or Waste of power. These disadvantages can be largely overcome by means of the present invention since the pump is primed with water through the auxiliary suction pipe before the air is evacuated and the load raised against the top of the container.

Moreover by nicely proportioning the main suction pipe in relation to the auxiliary suction pipe any air enclosed above the clothes may be evacuated while water is still being withdrawn through the auxiliary suction pipe, so that the pump is operating throughout under favourable conditions of lubrication and sealing.

One specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which the single figure is an elevation of a combined washing machine and squeeze drier with certain parts broken away.

In the embodiment shown the general arrangement is similar to that set out in the applicants copending application t'or United States Letters Patent Serial No.

2,826,059 :Paten-ted Mar. 11-, "1958 ice 395,221, filed NovemberSO, .1953, that is to say the squeeze drier comprises a flexible bag 10, for example of rubber, suspended by "a "flange 11on its upper margin lirom apla'ttormlz secured-in theto'p 'of the-outeracasing 13 of theanachine. II-he squeeze bag is co'v'er'eiltby a pivoted lid 14 eflecting an airtight seal with its margin. A main suction pipe 15 opens through the margin of the bag and communicates at its other end with the suction connection 16 of a pump 17 mounted in the casing below the squeeze bag 10. The pump is conveniently of the type known as a monopump comprising a rotor 18 in the form of a single start screwthread rotating and moving orbitally in a stator 19 having a bore in the form of a double start screwthread.

In accordance with the present invention the bottom of the bag 10 has vulcanised to it a rubber pipe connection 20 for a flexible auxiliary suction pipe 21 which also communicates with the suction side of the pump 17 through an auxiliary suction connection 22. The internal cross-section of the auxiliary suction pipe 21 is only a fraction of that of the main suction pipe 15 and has a metering orifice 2.3 to enable the proportion of fluids drawn through the two pipes to be adjusted as desired by the selection of a metering orifice 23 of the proper bore for the prevailing conditions.

It will be appreciated from the drawing that the auxiliary suction connection 22 is positioned at a level slightly above the inlet end of the rotor 18 so that all liquid flowing down the auxiliary suction pipe is directed on to the rotor and into the working space 24 between it and the stator 19.

Accordingly in operation it is not necessary to wait till the air has been evacuated from the bag before water can flow to the pump, since some water will begin to flow to the pump through the auxiliary suction pipe as soon as wet clothes are loaded into the bag. In this way the pump is both lubricated and provided with a water seal during the initial extraction of air from the squeeze bag 10, and the pumping of the air from the bag is accordingly carried out under far more eflicient conditions which both speed up the emptying of the bag and prevent wear of the moving parts.

I claim:

1. A squeeze drier for clothes of the flexible walled container type in which wet clothes are placed within the container and its walls collapsed against the wet clothes to squeeze the water therefrom comprising, a flexible walled container having an open end and a closed end, a support for supporting said container from its open end while leaving its closed end free to move as said container is collapsed, a closure for the open end of said container and forming an air tight seal therewith, a suction pump for removing air and liquid from said container to collapse the walls thereof, said pump being of the type requiring a liquid seal in order to pump air, a suction conduit connecting the suction side of said pump to the interior of said container adjacent its open end, and a flexible suction conduit connecting the suction side of said pump to the interior of said container, through the closed end of said container, the arrangement being such that liquid will drain by gravity thru said flexible conduit to said pump to provide a liquid seal therefor.

2. A squeeze drier as in claim 1 in which the capacity of said flexible conduit is such that water will flow through it during the entire period that said container is being evacuated through said first mentioned suction conduit.

3. A squeeze drier according to claim 1 including means having a metering orifice at the outlet of said flexible conduit to limit the flow of water therethrough to such an extent that water will be delivered to said pump during the entire period that said container is being evacuated through said first mentioned conduit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kemper Nov. 16, 1937 2,527,673 Byram Oct. 31, 1950 

